Slowing Down, By Necessity

There comes a time in a Collector's life when their collection begins to exceed the available space to display/store it and a tough decision has to be made. Anyone who's checked out my Want List will notice that I am allowing it to slowly decline as I obtain things, and I haven't added many new 'wants' in recent months. Granted, this is partly because the upcoming Titans Return toyline doesn't look that interesting to me, beyond a couple of figures. I'm baffled that, with a perfectly good Combiner Wars Megatron and a reasonable CW Optimus Prime (Takara Tomy's Grand Convoy set looks good, Hasbro's 'Each Sold Separately' version not so much), Hasbro feel the need to bring out a new, smaller model for each under the Titans Return brand, when there's already a larger, Powermaster Optimus Prime and TR Galvatron's partner, Nucleon, looks suspiciously like Megatron.

I also have - for the time being, at least - all the Third Party figures I have a particular interest in. Most of what I've seen that's due out in the next year or so doesn't light my candle in any particular way, or is simply too large/expensive for consideration in the foreseeable future. Some of it looks excellent, but there's simply no place in my collection for most of it.

I've never been able to put things like the BotCon boxed sets on display, all my Binaltech models and Alternity models are back in their boxes (and under consideration for selling off, though the former are 20th Anniversary items and the latter are simply very cool), Several of the larger/older TF Movie figures have been stashed in my wardrobe (the first movie Leader class Optimus Prime toy having been thoroughly superceded by the RotF version, and two movie Leader class Megatrons having been superceded by the Voyager class DotM version). Some of the Beast Wars figures I picked up a few years ago have been put back in their boxes also, having been superceded by their Generations remakes.

Boxes for the myriad Japanese and Third Party figures on display are hidden inside the sofa-bed in my lounge and stacked atop my four Ikea 'Billy' cabinets, which are rearranged periodically to accommodate new items. Sadly, these are only becoming more and more crowded. Due to the pattern of holes drilled for 'Billy' shelving, it's possible to add additional shelves in where the maximum height of the contents of existing shelves permits, leaving occasional 'short' shelves purely for storage or for holding smaller items (one cabinet has had a Mini-Con shelf for ages, a whopping 3" high, for example), but the positions of the three hinges on each door - and the central, structural shelf - can be a limiting factor.

So, despite both my Amazon Wish List and my eBay Watch List featuring a number of items I'd love to pick up as soon as the funds are available (and I've been attempting to keep to a monthly budget so far this year, with some success), I feel I must wait until more space is available, or I'll have to start buying stackable plastic crates to dump an entire shelf's-worth into just to accommodate new purchases. Such crates are easily obtainable, but present 'storage challenges' of their own. The items I have on preorder, therefore, will likely be my only new purchases for some time (unless something 'must have' springs up), while I figure out how best to organise my existing items.

Fear not, though, for I have plenty of draft posts remaining, and many items besides which I have yet to photograph. With the preordered items, this year's Club Membership Incentive and Subscription Service figures still to come, I could probably comfortably post for the remainder of the year without any further purchases.

So, that's the idea... let's see how it goes...